Results for the previous poll: Favorite video game genre? Simulation 26.7%, Strategy 20%, Adventure 20%, Puzzle 13.3%, RPG 13.3%, Visual Novel: 6.7%, Action 0%So my winter break has come to an end. Where does Goldbar Games stand?Well, let's take a look!Detective Butler EP2 is still in planning stages. A rather insignificant portion of writing is finished, but most of the plot is still being worked on. I feel very good about it though. Our team frequently discusses the plot as both a story and as a mystery, constantly refining our vision of the game. At this rate, the second episode is going to be longer and better than the first one. The story will be packed with significantly more content, and I'm doing my best to ensure that content is of the best quality.

We've just begun on the music. So far it's coming along nicely. I cleaned up a lot of the game's code, and the internal structure is much more pleasant. I'll probably be sticking with ONscripter for EP2 unless I learn how to work the Kirikiri game engine. It was fun to mess with, but replicating the design I had for EP1 takes a lot of jumping through hoops that I can't seem to figure out. The documentation is all in Japanese, so I've only gotten as far as Google Translate can take me. Any help there is appreciated!Graphics are an issue of their own, however. It kind of puts me in a difficult position. Being a free game, it's not very cost-effective to be paying for graphics. For that reason, something is going to need to change. We're still a fledgling group and don't have any resources other than personal ones and donations. There haven't been sufficient donations to safely say that graphics for EP2 are affordable. So now I'm at a crossroads (again) concerning graphics.In any event, I'm anticipating 2014 will be a very productive year. My goals are to release something each Comiket (summer and winter) at the very least, for the sake of keeping content coming. As we build more games, we'll learn how to make better ones. That helps out both you and me.I'd like to reveal some of my plans for a new game, in full detail, on the blog next month. Look forward to reading about it!-Kinjo

Can't wait for the details about the new game!
Also, for Butler ep2's graphics, aren't there people who do it for free? I'm pretty sure there are.

Reply

Kinjo

01/20/2014 9:31pm

Some people might be willing to do it for free. The hard part is finding them. The graphics for EP1 were not free, however.

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justananon

01/21/2014 3:27pm

Wow, you paid for them? This possibility never even occurred to me. Well, glad to hear the planning stages are going smoothly at least. Out of pure curiosity though, how much $ would you estimate is needed to fund EP2 art?

Kinjo

01/21/2014 9:17pm

I can't really say. What I know for certain is that as we make more characters, the art costs are going to ramp up dramatically. And a good mystery has an abundance of characters, so that's problematic.

Duck

01/22/2014 3:01am

I've seen ridiculous prices for art on a blog. ($40 for ONE sprite?!) As long as you create free games, I suggest it's best if you could find an artist who'd do it for free.

Duck

01/22/2014 4:33am

Btw, if you somehow end up not finding anyone who'd do it for free, I can possibly help you out.

battoora

02/05/2014 6:52pm

I'm very sorry for the offtopicness but can I get the sources of a couple background musics from Repercussion?

I am looking for what is labeled as bgm12 and bgm_mz_2_04 (Monochrome clock remix?) in particular. I recognized a couple other songs from Higanbana and G-Sen. Great work on it by the way.

Reply

Kinjo

02/05/2014 7:30pm

Thank you!

bgm12 is from the album "Dear Golden Witch", song titled "蒼色の冷笑2011".

bgm_mz_2_04 is a BGM from Higanbana: The Second Night.

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battoora

02/05/2014 8:44pm

Thanks for the quick reply! I've just found all these fangames, and I can't believe I didn't know about them for so long. After I finish Seacats, I'll be starting Detective Butler. Can't wait!